A note to readers

Some reflection on what's happened and what's next

I apologize for not writing a newsletter the last few days. I was preoccupied with commemorating the Rosedale Banishment anniversary, which remembered the most extensive ethnic cleansing in Pennsylvania history. I wrote a book on it, and we just worked to get a historical marker and proclamation from Gov. Josh Shapiro to acknowledge that Black and Latino people were displaced and victims of a terrible injustice. 

An audience member asked me if the book would ever be on a banned list, to which I said no. We had fought to get it into curriculums, and now it’s studied in every school district in that area. I did, however, say that my next book–a massive and comprehensive work on abortion–could wind up on those lists. It may be more well-suited for a gender studies curriculum at a liberal arts college. 

I’m now rededicating myself to this work. I plan to travel to Ohio to cover the abortion rights movement there next month. I am also communicating with activists throughout the country about going to their states to be a first-hand witness to history. This coming year will be the most seminal and formative in the topic's history, which I’ve studied intensively. 

We will see how abortion politics in a post-Roe era will take shape as Republicans seek to appease an antiabortion base during their primary while not alienating so many voters as to be unelectable in the general contest. I sense that they will say that abortion is a matter best left to the states. 

That’s the wisest political move on their part. We, of course, will rebut that by pointing out that abortion medication is now the primary method of ending pregnancy.  FDA approval of mifepristone and misoprostol directly conflicts with many state laws. We need federal clarity and protection of reproductive rights insofar as women getting the medication they need when needed. 

There are also prosecution threats from Attorney Generals for women who plan to go to another state to get an abortion. That’s the case in Alabama. This should also be asked of presidential candidates by debate moderators who need a better and deeper understanding of how this issue has evolved. How do they intend to clear up the conflicts that have developed due to the decision to overturn Roe? It was evident in the first presidential debate that the moderators were asking questions from a pre-Roe mindset–as if most abortions were surgical and the only controversial point was the time in pregnancy when it should be permitted. Those controversies remain in some ways, but those in the movement know that most of our attention has shifted to new threats. Journalism chronicling abortion should take note of that. 

A shadow hangs over the country as we await who will emerge from the Republican primary. Most patriotic Democrats and Republicans want it to be someone besides Donald Trump, the first former president ever to have a mug shot go viral. Nikki Haley seems to be gaining the most ground on him, and she would be a groundbreaking candidate as the first woman ever to be a standard-bearer of the Republican party. While I disagree with Haley on many issues, that still marks progress and could signal the breaking of the glass ceiling. She would be as historically significant as Hillary Clinton, and as such, I would treat her with respect while being critical of many of her positions and policies. 

There is much work left to be done. I’ll have more to report this week.